Mr . Gage s Defense of the Gold Standard . ALDEN S . HULING THERE is a great deal of discussion of the currency question which has no claim upon the attention of a very large and respectable element of the American people , for the reason that it assumes the truth of one proposition in relation to which there are differences absolutely irreconcilable . Every pretended discussion of this highly interesting and important subject , from the standpoint of those who have arrogated for their views the title sound money , sets out with the determination to maintain and to more securely establish the gold standard . They are chained to the idea that the currency of this country must be so arranged that twenty dollars and sixty-seven cents shall represent an ounce of fine gold bullion , that being its value in England as measured by gold coin of our present standard . There is nothing whatever in currency reform from the sound money standpoint but to more securely establish the gold standard...

The Thinking Farmer In the agricultural department of this number will be found an article headed Some Timely Topics , from the pen of W . A . Paxson . The subjects treated by Mr . Paxson are timely and the style of treating them interesting , but what we particularly desire to impress on the minds of our readers is the fact that Mr . Paxson s farm affords him subjects for interesting study and practical investigation . For instance , farmers have been sowing timothy seed with their wheat for a great many years , but probably very few of them ever paid any attention to the question as to whether the seed grew best when sown before the hoes of-the drill or after them . They have not given the matter a thought one way or the other , . but have bought a drill from the agent who could talk best without ! regard to this matter of grass-seeding and its effect on the wheat crop and the meadow that follows it . Mr . Paxson noticed a difference , wanted to know why there was a difference , a...

Agriculture Some Timely Topics While walking about over the farm , and riding around through the country in this locality—Green and Fayette counties , Ohio—within the past few weeks . I have noticed some things which may have escaped the notice of the ordinary agriculturalist , and concluded to jot some of them down for the benefit of The Farmers Voice readers . * * * One thing that I observed in my wheat field , which was seeded to grass this year , was the difference both in the crop of wheat and the timothy , resulting from methods of planting—whether the grass seed was sown before or after the drill hoes , or , more properly speaking , in front of or behind the hoes . Where it was sown in front of the hoes the timothy is all , or almost all , found to be crowing in the balks or between the hoe- .. acks . It is not quite so thick on the ground , nor has it grown so vigorously as that sown behind the hoes ; and in a dry season I do not think it would stand the drought quite so wel...

Wheat Experiments in Kansas The Kansas Experiment station at Manhattan has adopted the plan of issuing brief press bulletins on timely subjects , which must prove of great value to the farmers of that state . Press Bulletin No . 1 , just received , relates to wheat experiments , and is given in full herewith : Wheat went through the winter in good condition and started well in the spring , when March 22 a freeze cut it to the ground . This delayed ripening two weeks , making it so late that it was caught by the black rust after the usual time of ripening . The black rust appeared June 17 as most of our wheat was in the dough , and in three days wheat that had promised a yield of 30 to 40 bushels per acre was hardly worth cuting , the plants were dead , the straw fallen over and the grains shrunken to less than half size . We grew fifty-four varieties , but most of them were so badly injured by the rust that they were not cut . The highest yield of the Turkey , our standard hard whea...

TRULY WONDERFUL Was the Case of This Young ManOne Limb Covered With Boils . I have been troubled with boils , particularly on one of my limbs , which was completely covered with them . I tried about everything and turned to Hood s Sarsaparilla as a blood purifier . The first bottle helped me wonderfully . The boils soon began to heal , and after a while they were completely cured . I have not since been troubled with boils . CHARLES E . HAWKINS , Kinderhook , Illinois . Hood s Pills cure all liver ills . 25 cents .

Garden and Orchard The Fruit Crop Conflicting reports concerning the fruit crops are appearing in the press reports , and to get at the facts The Farmers Voice wrote several gentlemen who are identified with the fruit interests of the country , asking for information on the subject , and their replies follow : The first is from R . Morrill , Benton Harbor , Mich ., president of the Michigan State Horticultural society , who writes : I am hardly competent to report on the Michigan fruit crop of 1898 , having been too busy to pay any attention outside my own neighborhood , but I have a large amount of correspondence over the state and many visitors and from both I glean the following : The entire line of small fruit so far has given heavy crops , of Which probably one-half has been left on , the bushes and vines owing to the fact that it would not pay the expense of picking and package , and I am informed that this state of affairs prevails in several states . In 1897 under similar co...

Hints About Tree Planting There is at least one advantage in setting trees out in the fall and that is in a majority of cases there is more time to do the work . Generally in the spring everything is pressing and in consequence if tree planting is done it is done hurriedly . But with this as with many other tasks on the farm , if the work is done at the best time and in the best manner more or less preparation should be made in advance . The ground may be plowed and if necessary manured . The trees ma . y be ordered so as to be sure to have them in good season . In making out the list of trees take plenty of time . A hit or miss plan will prove poor policy . An orchard occupies the ground for a long time , and it is very essential if the best results are secured that care be taken to select such varieties as are best adapted to the soil and conditions of culture under which they must be grown . In many cases the failure to make fruit growing profitable is directly due to improper se...

SPROUTS English sparrows are keeping our cabbages free from worms this season . A flock of them come early in the morning and carefully look over the heads , afterward finishing their breakfast with the chickens . We think they earn all they eat with the fowls . Cultivate the cabbages as regularly now as you would an early crop in the beginning of the season . This is the time of year when cabbages begin to grow from the inside and make hard heads . In another column Roland Morrill says that Michigan apple trees that have been given good care during past seasons have a good crop this year . This shows the benefit of constant good care , whether there is a good crop or not . Benjamin Buckman says he finds currants a poor money crop . They have not retailed below $ 1 . 60 a case in Chicago this summer , while other berries have gone as low as 40 or 50 cents . Have you shade trees in your dooryard ? If not put some out this fall . Deciduous trees are best for shade ; evergreens for pro...

Lack of Fruit If one were to take the market reports as a guide , there is no lack of fruit in this country . When there comes a good crop year the price invariably goes down to * a figure that means loss to the commercial fruit-grower . It would seem from this that there is no lack of fruit in this country , but the fact is that there is not one-fourth the fruit grown in this country that could be consumed by the people . The lack at this time is not in the supply for city markets . Those who live in the cities get fruit plentifully at low prices . This year I have bought berries and other fruits at prices that made them cheaper than I could possibly have grown them myself . When I can buy Michigan strawberries so fresh that they seem to have just come from the vines at six quarts for 25 cents I do not feel the necessity of having a strawberry patch in my &amp;gt; garden . Blackberries at 3 cents a quart and peaches at 15 cents a peck , all good measure , have been bought this ...

Live Stock and Dairy Hogs in Summer This is the most trying time of the year on hogs , old and young . The hot days and cooler nights together with the general conditions make it more trying to them than any other season of the year . If hogs have been running on pasture during the summer and have beet me accustomed to out-of-door life they will not be affected as much as those which are kept in the house . If corn has been their principal feed , and tepid or stagnant water their drink , and a dusty yard their living place , they are in the West possible condition to fall victim to disease and measures should be taken to give them more sanitary surroundings and a more wholesome if less fattening diet . Where hogs have been fed on old corn without an opportunity to get at green feed , feeding new corn should be carefully begun as soon as the grains begin to get out of the milk . At this time the corn may be fed with the stalks and the hogs will be the better for the green feed . Wher...

Practical Dairy Paragraphs I have met a great many practical men who have agreed that it is a conservative statement to say that one-third of the value of the corn plant is in the stalk . If that is so the idea has struck me in traveling over the country and seeing how farmers in Illinois and still more so farther south and in Iowa—in all the Western country in fact—are letting a valuable product go to waste . It seems to me that when it is a fact that we are wasting one-third of the corn crop we must be very rich indeed to be able to afford to do it . Even if the cattle are turned out to eat it in the field , they get a mighty small part of the nutriment . It struck me that we had no right to complain of hard times as long as we can afford to throw away onethird of the value we can get out of an acre of land . —J . H . Monrad , Winnetka , 111 . * * * To ripen cream and get the best results by exhaustive churning we calculate to hold the cream at 60 or 70 degrees for about—well , sa...

Marsden s Feed Analyzed Among the newly exploited stock foods is one for which somewhat extravagant claims have been made , but-which is really only a very familiar fodder in a slightly modified form . This is the socalled Marsden s stock feed , which has been mentioned a number of times in these columns . The New York Experiment station at Geneva has made some experiments with this new feed and the results are published in a recent bulletin . This Marsden food is the refuse resulting from making corn stalk cellulose , being the leaves and tough outer shell of the stalks dried and ground very fine . The claim is being made that this feed is more digestible than the whole or shredded corn stover , more nutritious than timothy hay and altogether a most va uable addition to the coarse fodders . Investigations made at the New York station show that the material in composition and nutritive value is only finely ground- corn stover and that the value of this new discovery , which is reall...

DAIRY , STABLE AND PEN * In training a colt too much time cannot be taken in teaching him the first lesson . Let him know that lie is not going to be hurt and oiiee he is certain of this and has the first lesson by heart he will learn the hfext quickly . Wood ashes should be kept within reach of hogs that are being fattened . They like them and if they have them their bones will be much stronger than they would be without them . Dont let your sheep go into winter quarters with a supply of ticks on them to worry them all Winter . Dip them before cold weather comes . This is humane and also profitable . The man who must buy a ram before breeding his ewes should lose no time in securing him . The right kind of rams are remarkably scarce and it does not pay to use any other . The warm side of a straw stack is not the place to feed profits into live stock . Dont forget this until it is too late to build a comfortable house for every animal on the place . Keep the suckling sow from gettin...

Poultry and Bees Some Plain figures During the last three months The Farmers Voice flock of hens has averaged 49 1-4 eggs for each hen . This is not a remarkable showing , standing as it does alone , but when all the facts are known we are pretty proud of the record . During that time this same flock has hatched and reared an average of three chicks for each hen , so we have a little over four dozen eggs and three chicks to credit to each hen . As the chicks would sell in the market for at least 25 cents apiece it will be seen that these hens have not done so badly after all , But you will think , it has cost something for feed . Certainly , and they have been charged with everything they have had except the lawn clippings and waste vegetables that have been fed to them . The feed has cost fully twice as much as it would have cost in the country , light wheat , for instance , costing 85 cents for 100 pounds , and other feed stuffs in proportion . Neither the hens nor the chickens ha...